Family says Atlanta VA Hospital mixed up medication and records

A Henry County family said the Atlanta Veterans Medical Center sent them confidential medical records of other patients and even the wrong prescription for their father.

Joseph Carnegie, 81, suffered a brain injury at the VA hospital in Tampa and now needs around-the-clock care at home.

His daughter said the wrong medication could be deadly for her father who is in a coma-like state.

"What if we didn't pay attention and what if we hadn't read it?" said Natalie Carnegie who noticed medication she received in the mail was not for her father.

Carnegie said she also received lab results that did not belong to her father.

"My dad definitely wasn't born in 1984 and he's not a female," said Carnegie.

The mix-ups are among a series of mistakes the hospital is accused of. Two patients committed suicide at the facility and a report found patient safety was compromised.

Rep. Jeff Miller, of Florida, and a delegation toured the Atlanta hospital on Monday. He thought the problems were corrected but learned late Thursday the VA failed to report another suicide.

"I left confident that the leadership there was committed to making an honest effort to turn the facility around," said Miller in a statement. "Today, that confidence is shattered."

Miller has called on the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to take a close look at the hospital's leadership and whether changes need to made.

"I think what needs to happen is we need to all come together," said Mike Coleman, Joseph Carnegie's son-in-law. "We all need to sound one voice and we need to demand change and demand it right now."

The Atlanta Veterans Medical Center sent CBS Atlanta a statement reading, "Due to a system error
involving two Veterans with similar names, a prescription was mistakenly mailed
to the wrong address. Upon learning of this, we immediately corrected the
error, apologized to both patients, and provided proper disposal instructions
for the incorrect medication."